Kiffin discusses spring depth chart

To follow on the previous item about USC’s post-spring depth chart, Coach Lane Kiffin had a teleconference with reporters this afternoon to discuss it. Kiffin started his remarks by giving his thoughts and prayers to the victims of today’s bombing in Boston, and Kiffin later said he wasn’t aware of any connection between the incident and the families of any USC players or staff members.

USC’s fall training camp has a tentative start date of Aug. 3. Here are Kiffin’s comments about the end of spring practice and today’s depth-chart release, including thoughts on Dion Bailey’s move from linebacker to safety, needed improvement from Kevin Graf and the offensive line in general, the three-way quarterback battle, how the cornerback position shapes up, and much more...

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(on some performances in the spring game...)

KIFFIN: ``After watching the film, we had similar thoughts. The no-tackling decision was based on, we had 42 scholarship offensive and defensive players available. It really just made it impossible to go live.’’

KIFFIN: ``I thought the three quarterbacks had big days. Very accurate down the field, really good decision-making. Limited turnovers. Cody, now, I believe, has had five scrimmages in the Coliseum without an interception, so obviously they’re doing well in that department.’’

KIFFIN: ``I thought the center played really well, Marcus Martin, capping off a very good spring after a late move to center there, after the first week. He really responded well, and that will be the direction we will go, with him being the center and Max (Tuerk) being a guard. I’m excited about how it looked on film and how well (Martin) did.’’

KIFFIN: ``On defense, I thought four guys stood out, and these four guys had a complete spring as well. Leonard Williams, with six tackles, was very dominant throughout the day, causing the offense a lot of issues. He lined up on the left side and caused the right side of our offensive line a lot of problems, picking up where he left off last year. I thought Lamar Dawson was probably if not the, then one of the most-improved players on our team this spring. He continued that with a good game. Devon Kennard, the last two weeks, really performed well and had a really good day on Saturday. Morgan Breslin had three-and-a-half sacks.’’

(on the post-spring depth chart...)

KIFFIN: ``The depth chart that was released today is very much in sand. It does not mean a whole lot. You’ll see a whole lot of ‘’ors’’ on there. We’re not playing a game this week. There will still be plenty of competition and a lot of jobs open and a lot of movement when we get to fall. We have a very competitive fall camp coming up, so don’t read too much into that. Also, with a lot of injuries, it’s kind of hard to slot some guys in who missed some time. Probably the only thing of note there to catch your attention is Dion. We have made the decision, with the production of Lamar and Anthony (Sarao) at the Will linebacker position, to move Dion back to safety. That’s the direction that we will head in camp with Dion.’’

(on listing Chad Wheeler as a co-starter with Kevin Graf...)

KIFFIN: ``Unfortunately, Chad’s injury really stopped what we were seeing as a great spring for him. We’re very excited about what he showed, how tough and physical he was playing. We’re going to put him over there with Kevin and let those guys battle it out. We want those guys to have a great summer and come back in the fall ready to compete for that spot. If both of them are playing really good, I’m not saying we can’t move one of them somewhere else. But we really want to see those guys have a great camp.’’

(on whether this spring was more competitive than last season...)

KIFFIN: ``We were kind of in a `maintaining’ mode because of so many returning starters, guys that had had such great years (in 2011), with five freshman All-Americans and Matthew (Barkley) coming back, all those things. I thought we weren’t as competitive, and part of that was the decision (to not tackle in practice) because of not wanting to have injuries because of sanctioned (scholarship) numbers.’’

(on whether the adjustment to safety will be tough on Dion Bailey, who was injured this spring...)

KIFFIN: ``One, he’s been in the meetings this whole spring, focused on safety in the meetings. Two, he’s played safety his whole life, before we moved him. I don’t think there will be a bit transition.’’

(on his biggest concern, other than cornerback, entering fall camp...)

KIFFIN: ``I think the offensive line’s progression, probably, making sure that we’re really continuing to get better up there. I think we did make some strides this spring but we have a long ways to go. We want to get back to being a physical team, and obviously that starts up front. So their progression will obviously have a lot to do with that. When you really break down last year, after the Arizona game, after Marqise’s game at Arizona, people just really really started to completely play us different. They had already started that way, but we faced so many deep safeties in Cover 2, and we just weren’t able to run people out of it. If people are going to play you (as though) you should run the ball for six or seven yards a carry, we were not able to do that. We’ve got to make defenses be honest against us and play the run. That will obviously start up front.’’

(on why Aundrey Walker is a starter at left tackle but Kevin Graf and Chad Wheeler are co-starters at right tackle...)

KIFFIN: ``It’s really not that Aundrey had the greatest spring ever. There’s only a walk-on player behind him (on the depth chart). There’s not a scholarship player over there. Obviously we would like to have more numbers. We feel that Zach Banner is a right tackle only. He’s not a left tackle, and he has a ways to go to progress for us. So we couldn’t flip him over there. We think that Chad (Wheeler) has showed us some really excited stuff, so we’re having competition over there. It’s not really that Aundrey outplayed everybody. It’s simply a numbers thing, about where we’re at.’’

(on how Graf performed this spring...)

KIFFIN: ``I think Kevin had an up-and-down spring. I think Coach (Mike) Summers has done a great job of addressing that with him, then showing him a great plan of how to improve and how to get better.’’

(on Darreus Rogers being listed ahead of Victor Blackwell on the depth chart...)

KIFFIN: ``We think that Darreus has showed some things to have a really big upside there. Victor has made some plays for us, as he did Saturday, but also we want Victor to be extremely consistent in everything he does, and continue to grow in our program and mature. So, Victor is well aware of that.’’

(on whether he was ever close to naming a starting quarterback...)

KIFFIN: ``We’ve obviously watched Saturday, watched everything. We’re also in the process of re-breaking down all of spring and making (video) cut-ups of all of that, with the coaches that aren’t on the road recruiting, as well as myself. So obviously we’ll be digging in further to the evaluation of those guys and what they can do better and where they’re at. But I do feel like all three of them are really good college quarterbacks, and I think that’s a good problem to have. I don’t think many people have that problem. A lot of times, if you only have three (quarterbacks) on scholarship, you’ve missed on one or two of them. That just happens. We all miss. Fortunately, in this one, I don’t think we’ve missed at all. I think all three of them are big-time players. So, it’s a great problem to have. I think all of three of them can run our system. Obviously the two Maxs are bigger guys, so there would be no question whether they can. I think the question about Cody is, people might think he’s not as big as those guys, so can he do stuff, do things to cover up for his height? I think what Cody showed is, no we do not (have any concerns). We can run everything the same way we’ve run it for years, with Cody in there, and he would do a great job.’’

(on who might have been the most-improved offensive player this spring...)

KIFFIN: ``I would say Chad Wheeler was on his way to that, prior to his injury. I would probably say Jahleel Pinner would be in that conversation. I think he really, the last half of spring ball, got more physical and really improved.’’

(on his assessment of the cornerbacks...)

KIFFIN: ``I think the problem with (Devian) Shelton and (Kevon) Seymour has been injuries. We haven’t been able to have a long period of time to evaluate them, because they both have struggled with getting injured at times, last semester and this semester. I think both of them have some good upside, from a height-weight-speed standpoint. They’re not small guys, and they can run and they’re long. Chris (Hawkins) came in and did some good things, but obviously he’s just a puppy. He’s just a senior in high school.’’

(on whether the cornerback situation is still wide open...)

KIFFIN: ``It could have been easy to just `or’ everybody there. Shelton, (Torin) Harris and Seymour all missed time with injuries, and Hawkins just got here and Anthony Brown has been up and down. Same with Ryan (Henderson). So we’ve got a lot of work to figure it out there. As we mentioned before, Josh (Shaw) could very easily be going out there as well.’’

(on how many scholarship players he expects to have at the start of the season...)

KIFFIN: ``I think that would be 69. There are variables in there. I think George (Farmer) dropped us from 70 to 69, with his ACL (tear). That’s not saying that we couldn’t sign somebody prior to fall camp. That has happened before. But I think it’s headed toward looking like 69.’’

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